Swift - switching from van to flatbed?

Anybody know if you go out with a trainer after securement training as an experienced driver? Or is just the class and off on your own? Any flatbedders out of Central Florida?

 

I don't know how long the wait is, I'm not a trainer, but it could be a few weeks. But I think ray pederson is out with an injury right now so the Phoenix flatbed school is shut down for the time being, so there are a lot of trainers without students. So if you do your class in Gary the wait might not be too long. Hometime in georgia would likely be a deadhead from south Carolina.Experienced drivers do not go out with a trainer, you take the 5 day class then go out solo. But I don't think we hire out of Florida so you should call and ask.

 

Thanks. I figured that getting to Florida would be problematic. I am starting as a van driver and might look at it in the future. I enjoyed flatbedding before and considered going back to it but think I might pass.

 

Will swift consider hiring a 21 year old with adequate work experience?

 

Yes. I was an on/off college student and self employed after graduating high school, and only had a few streaks of verifiable work. I initially applied to Swift and Roehl, and I went with Swift because Roehl wanted an affidavit signed by 2 non relatives accounting for my "unemployment". I thought that was insulting and said no thanks. Been happy with Swift flatbed ever since.

 

Thanks man that's good to hear, and I'm a little confused about the age requirement cause some say you need to be honorably discharged from the military in order to be hired at 21 and some say you don't, I'm really interested in the flat bed division since the pay is a little better, plus I want a challenge, I hear flatbed is tough.

 

I called flatbed division at Swift "flatbed light". It's nothing like what you'll find elsewhere in the industry because of the customer structure - it's often really similar to running a dedicated account (even though it's not). I liked the people for the most part (Ray is a moron in Phoenix securement though), and ran as a lease driver for a few years.... but ultimately I had just outgrown them. When I moved from Laredo, TX to Utah they just didn't have the hometime availability I needed due to the severely limited freight lanes on the division, so I opted to leave them.

 

Flatbed light because of the longer hauls, sure, but I haven't seen anything hauled by any of the other big companies that I haven't. Ive hauled oversized with swift, never seen a Melton os/OD. Especially as a west coast company driver, we get a mix of everything. Now if you live in Laredo and only haul cat, rails, chassis, and coils, then I would agree with your premise.

And what happened with ray?

 

There aren't any. Diesel girl is no longer with swift. If you are thinking about it, don't do it, fuel economy is at least 1mpg lower than dry van ($10k per year more in fuel) and there is a lot more deadhead than van.